40-year-old Stevens Point college student will be first Republican to challenge Tammy Baldwin for Senate in 2024

WASHINGTON – As Wisconsin Republicans search for a viable contender to challenge Democratic U.S. Sen. Tammy Baldwin in 2024, a 40-year-old college student in Stevens Point is poised to become the first Republican to officially announce a bid for the seat.

Rejani Raveendran, chair of the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point College Republicans, plans to officially launch her run against Baldwin Tuesday night in Portage County. The announcement would make Raveendran the first GOP Senate candidate in Wisconsin with just under a year to go until the primary.

“I see what’s going on in our country,” Raveendran told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel last week, noting she recently visited Washington. “I realized how much D.C. is (dominated) by these polished politicians. I realized there is a need for a change in our political system. We need some new faces with new ideas.”

Raveendran’s longshot entry would indeed add a new face to the race. The mother of three has not been involved in politics until recently. She joined the Stevens Point College Republicans this year, she said, and only decided to run for Senate after her trip to Washington earlier this summer. She plans to graduate with a bachelor's degree in political science next year.

“I am not a politician, and I do not want to be a politician,” said Raveendran, who immigrated to the U.S. in 2011 from India, where she was a nurse and midwife. She lived in California before moving to Wisconsin in 2017.

“I’m a regular person who knows the situations in regular people’s lives,” she added.

Raveendran became a U.S. citizen in 2015, she said. That means she will have been a citizen for 9 years in 2024 — the minimum number of years needed to be a senator.

In an interview, Raveendran said her campaign will focus on securing the border and cracking down on illicit drugs like fentanyl, stopping illegal immigration and advocating for “medical freedom,” suggesting she is opposed to vaccine mandates. She raised concerns over purported adverse reactions to the coronavirus vaccine and said she also “will be fighting against the woke agenda to preserve the innocence of our children.”

Raveendran’s Facebook page includes pictures with Republican U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson and U.S. Reps. Mike Gallagher and Derrick Van Orden from her trip to Washington, in addition to photos with Democrats like Wisconsin Attorney General Josh Kaul. She took photos with Kari Lake, a Republican who ran for Arizona governor and has promoted false claims of election fraud, during a fundraising event in Wauwatosa in late June.

Asked whether she believed President Joe Biden won the 2020 election, Raveendran replied: “You know something, that is a great question. I am still learning about that. I am still learning about that particular thing.”

She claimed there were “clearly some issues” with the election and added: “How can I say yes or no when I have no clarification about that problem? Half of the population says it will be this way. Half of the population says it would be the other way. Before I make a comment about that, I need to be certain about what I am thinking.”

When it comes to the presidential field, Raveendran supported former President Donald Trump in 2016 and 2020 and is supporting him again in 2024.

Even with Raveendran’s impending announcement, the Republican Senate field in Wisconsin remains largely wide open. Republican U.S. Rep. Tom Tiffany last week announced he will not run against Baldwin, and Gallagher, Republicans’ top choice candidate, has also declined to run.

Potential contenders still mulling the race include Madison businessman Eric Hovde, Franklin businessman Scott Mayer and former Milwaukee County Sheriff David A. Clarke Jr.

Wisconsin Democrats, who have poked fun at Republicans for having yet to field a candidate, used Tuesday’s news to continue to attack the hypothetical Senate field.

“Congratulations to Wisconsin Republicans on officially kicking off yet another messy GOP primary that is likely to feature Sheriff David Clarke and two multi-millionaires — one from California and one who can’t be bothered to vote,” said Democratic Party of Wisconsin rapid response director Arik Wolk, referencing Hovde and Mayer.

Raveendran told the Journal Sentinel she hasn’t spoken with many elected Republicans about her planned Senate run. And she hasn’t been in touch with the National Republican Senatorial Committee, the GOP’s main Senate campaign arm. She expects others to get into the Republican primary, too.

“I do think that some of the people are going to jump into the race at any time. But that is not my concern,” she said. “Rather than sitting on the couch, watching TV and complaining about it, I want to do something. That is the reason I am running.”

This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Sen. Baldwin's first announced GOP challenger is a college student